VPN not working? Mobile phone provider blocked sites

hughtrimble · 23 Mar 2017 at 13:34

Afternoon,

An odd one happened today, and for the first time. Three Mobile prevented access to a knife forum, stating it was flagged as inappropriate/adult/I forget the exact term, and that I had to remove the adult content filter.

However, I'm running a VPN on that phone (PIA), with internet killswitch enabled, and therefore how did they know what website I was attempting to visit? Is the VPN not working? This was on Habit browser, and accessing a bookmarked site.

Any suggestions at all would be much appreciated.

On Holiday · 23 Mar 2017 at 13:41

I'd start with simply checking what IP address is shown on your phone; https://www.whatismyip.com/ to see if this is Three or your VPN.

hughtrimble · 23 Mar 2017 at 13:45

Plenty O'Toole said:
I'd start with simply checking what IP address is shown on your phone; https://www.whatismyip.com/ to see if this is Three or your VPN.

And what do you know, it's showing Hutchison 3G UK Limited, so that's Three. Thank you for that simple display of it not working Plenty O'Toole!

I'll try restarting my phone and restarting everything. The killswitch clearly isn't working therefore.

On Holiday · 23 Mar 2017 at 13:51

No problem

I'm not familiar with PIA / Internet killswitch on the phone, I use OpenVPN myself and that has a notification bar icon to indicate the connection is active/disabled etc.
Might be worth a go if you have the details to use OpenVPN

hughtrimble · 23 Mar 2017 at 13:53

Plenty O'Toole said:
No problem

I'm not familiar with PIA / Internet killswitch on the phone, I use OpenVPN myself and that has a notification bar icon to indicate the connection is active/disabled etc.
Might be worth a go if you have the details to use OpenVPN

Just restarted etc. and it's still showing as Three's IP. Great work PIA...

So the killswitch option on PIA just means that if you lose the VPN connection, it cuts the internet access until you reconnect to the VPN. That is clearly not the case here.

I pay for PIA, and as such want it to be working (be very interesting to know how long it's been doing this for)!

neodude · 24 Mar 2017 at 08:58

Both PIA and my own VPN work flawlessly on my phone.

james.miller · 24 Mar 2017 at 08:59

just get the filter removed. what are you, ten? :confused:

hughtrimble · 24 Mar 2017 at 12:50

james.miller said:
just get the filter removed. what are you, ten?

You're entirely missing the point..

With a VPN, Three shouldn't be able to tell what sites are being visited. That is the point. I don't give a damn about the filter as that's easily fixed. The fact that they're saying the site is being filtered out shows the VPN is not working, and that's the point of this thread. Read the OP. :rolleyes:

hughtrimble · 24 Mar 2017 at 12:57

neodude said:
Both PIA and my own VPN work flawlessly on my phone.

I'm glad for you.

PIA does not work on mine, evidently. Restarts, reinstalls...no change.

Rroff · 24 Mar 2017 at 13:04

james.miller said:
just get the filter removed. what are you, ten?

Dunno about Three but on some networks it used to be a bit complicated getting it disabled i.e. GG used to only accept a driving license (with some restrictions) or passport as proof of age and there was a fair few people who didn't have a valid passport and older driving licenses that didn't fall within their restrictions, etc. so a lot of people just ended up using VPNs.

hughtrimble · 24 Mar 2017 at 13:09

Rroff said:
Dunno about Three but on some networks it used to be a bit complicated getting it disabled i.e. GG used to only accept a driving license (with some restrictions) or passport as proof of age and there was a fair few people who didn't have a valid passport and older driving licenses that didn't fall within their restrictions, etc. so a lot of people just ended up using VPNs.

Filter was easy, just sign in and disable.

That james.miller user just failed to note the entire reason for the thread - that if the VPN was working, the filter wouldn't have flagged that site. A VPN saying it's working, with a killswitch enabled, shouldn't be letting unencrypted traffic through, but it is.

Sp00n · 24 Mar 2017 at 13:33

Does PIA use it's own client?

hughtrimble · 24 Mar 2017 at 13:47

Sp00n said:
Does PIA use it's own client?

Apologies, I'm not sure what you mean. It's an app you download from the Play Store, sign in, select your settings and off you go (supposedly). That what you mean?

Sp00n · 24 Mar 2017 at 14:04

Well, Android has built in ability to connect to standard VPNs (pptp, ipsec etc...), you've answered the question, they use their own app.

So, this could be a problem with the PIA app and your phone, might be worth contacting PIA and opening a support ticket as it is their app.

Quick Google show's that the killswitch is a "common" problem with the PIA app on Android, is this something that's just started happening? Maybe they updated the app? it may be worth contacting their support although the same Google show's their support is not particularly great and you may spend quite some time talking through it.

james.miller · 24 Mar 2017 at 16:06

hughtrimble said:
Filter was easy, just sign in and disable.

That james.miller user just failed to note the entire reason for the thread - that if the VPN was working, the filter wouldn't have flagged that site. A VPN saying it's working, with a killswitch enabled, shouldn't be letting unencrypted traffic through, but it is.

No i saw the reason - circumventing a filter which could just be switched off. Not that that's the reason you're using the VPN in the first place, i know that. Im sure you have a good reason though...

Rroff said:
Dunno about Three but on some networks it used to be a bit complicated getting it disabled i.e. GG used to only accept a driving license (with some restrictions) or passport as proof of age and there was a fair few people who didn't have a valid passport and older driving licenses that didn't fall within their restrictions, etc. so a lot of people just ended up using VPNs

Nah, sign in and disable. Three make it easy

Sp00n · 24 Mar 2017 at 16:08

It's super easy to remove the restriction on Three, but that's not the point of this thread.

Rroff · 24 Mar 2017 at 16:12

^^ Its always good to know though - some companies make it a complete headache to get the adult filter turned off.

Steveocee · 24 Mar 2017 at 16:53

The aggravation of 3rd party apps. One of the main reasons I try to use "built in" solutions wherever I can, I'd expect PIA to try and shun all ownership of the problem because you won't have a supported ROM or phone or carrier or similar.

I've never heard of the killswitch before but I like the sound of it.

RoyMi6 · 25 Mar 2017 at 23:01

Steveocee said:
I've never heard of the killswitch before but I like the sound of it.

One of the more standard requests/requirements of any VPN used for information security purposes on both desktop and mobile.

Sounds like this question would be best placed over on the PIA forums though. Killswitches with VPNs are notoriously problematic though, I'm not sure I'd expect a timely solution.